My blog - from 2003 to 2016

Dangerous driving around cyclists

I cycle pretty much every day now, including a six mile round trip to and from work.

So I see a lot of pretty poor driving around cyclists, including cars pulling out into my path as a cyclist, dangerous overtaking and passing far too close to be safe.

And I see some pretty bad cycling too, although that is rarely dangerous to anyone other than the cyclist themselves.

A little while back I got so fed up of all this that I got myself a helmet camera to record the things I was experiencing far too regularly for comfort.

On 31st October the driver of YM53 GYW completely ignored my presence on a mini-roundabout and decided to not give way and proceed to drive straight across my path as I turned and signalled right:

I reported this incident to Kent Police and supplied the video evidence.

I’m not sure realistically what I expected to happen, but given I clearly had right of way and the motorist passed at some speed close to me, I hoped that Kent Police would take some action against the driver – particularly as I had a clear video of the incident.

I completed the paperwork that Kent Police sent me and supplied a statement about the incident.

Today I had a letter from Kent Police telling me they wouldn’t be taking any further action about this.

In a way I wasn’t surprised. I know how stretched police resources are and this wasn’t the crime of the century I know.

But what annoyed me was the reason that nothing would happen as a result.

Between Kent Police and the Crown Prosecution Service it seems they’ve decided that dangerous driving around cyclists and ignoring the rules of the road is OK for drivers – as long as the cyclist doesn’t have to “brake or deviate from their path of travel”.

In this incident I actually did have to brake as I’d seen the car not giving way to me at the mini-roundabout and had braked to avoid the car coming into the side of me.

So if you’re a cyclist and you experience dangerous driving – make sure you brake, swerve and record it all to have any chance of Kent Police actually doing anything about it – even if you have video evidence that shows a vehicle clearly not following the Highway Code.